Doctor Who: Thresholds
by Zachary Mack
Summary: Book I in The Farthest Stars, involves Eighth Doctor. The Doctor, after finally seeing to the destruction of The Master, has taken off towards Gallifrey, but his destination is forcibly changed as he is drawn to a cluster no Time Lord has ever visited...


Disclaimer: This derivative work is based on the British science-fiction television show "Doctor Who", as created and owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation; the made-for-television film "Doctor Who, jointly produced by the Fox Network and the BBC; and the massively multiplayer online game "EVE Online", developed by CCP hf. I make no claims of ownership of the characters, devices and plots depicted herein, save those penned specifically for this work.

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_"Doctor Who: Thresholds"   
Prologue  
_

_Another life begun, another companion found, and another lost…_

A middle-aged man, humanoid in appearance and manner of dress, sits quietly in an antique chair in his study, reading to himself and listening to music from early twentieth century Earth. He had managed to save the universe from destruction yet again, find someone he could deeply care about, and move on in his adventures. The Master had nearly seen to his end this time, but his old nemesis was more or less destroyed completely this time around.

_I knew something didn't sit right with that __"__execution__"_ he thought. _For all I know, it was all a ploy to have me unwittingly sneak him back to Gallifrey undetected._ He managed a small laugh and smirked, looking out of the study, at the central pillar in the nearby room. _Guess we won't need to worry about that now, will we?_ The pillar merely pulsated slowly in response.

Outside, the TARDIS – Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, or what the Doctor sometimes remarked as the "old girl" – spun its way through space, nothing altering its course or speed. The Doctor continued reading silently, as with the current settings his next stop would be his home planet. He wouldn't even be arriving there for another four hours at the rate the TARDIS was moving. He lay back in the chair, sighed a bit and began to nod off, the vinyl record on the turntable continuing to play in the background.

_"… time-- …time-- …time—" _The Doctor was stirred from his rest as the record began to skip, incidentally at the same exact part of the recording that it did when the Master's consciousness managed to escape its container. The only words he had time to utter were a simple phrase: "Oh no, not again!"

As fast as he could notice that he was in yet another unpredictable predicament, the TARDIS was suddenly diverted in its course. The subsequent jarring had caused the Doctor to stumble and nearly fall face-first whilst attempting to reach the central console. Upon looking over the instruments, he had noticed a peculiarity – he was being diverted out of the known Milky Way, and well over thousands of years into the future. "Something has to be interfering with the temporal stabilizers, and whatever's doing it is pulling this old girl in like a bloody strong magnet! But just what could it be?" He thought this conundrum over, twisting and turning it every way that his mind possibly could… yet he could yield nothing out of it. The jarring only got worse, forcing the Doctor to brace himself on the console for support. "This is going to shake her apart if it keeps up any longer!" he complained, manipulating controls and diverting power in every manner he could to prevent exactly that from happening.

Seemingly without any further provocation, the jarring had begun to rescind, and the TARDIS' movement through time slowed to a crawl before settling completely. The Doctor looked up to two displays attached to the console and began remarking to himself. "Alright, it seems to be twenty-two thousand four-hundred and nine by Earth's calendar, I still haven't the foggiest where I'm stuck, and… I'm in some sort of facility…" He looked more closely at the visual display, noticing what appeared to be a societal marking of some kind. "Hmmm, a letter 'C', with a protruding horizontal line and a dot, all transcribed within a circle. Not exactly a Cyberman's calling card, and by no stretch is it attached to the Daleks… what could it be?"

Before he could muster an answer, he heard the sound of boots hitting the ground at a moderate pace. "Well, the welcoming party is here, it seems," he scoffed as he walked over to the exit doors. The sounds of boots came to a halt as weapons came to ready.

"Unknown, exit the device and identify yourself!" a senior officer yelled at the TARDIS. "I say again, exit the 'police public call box' and identify yourself!"

The Doctor quickly pocketed his sonic screwdriver and opened the door slowly, walking out and locking it again before immediately throwing his arms over his head. "You don't need to have those, I'm not hostile," he assured the troops.

"Like hell we're going to believe that," the officer responded gruffly. "Now, identify yourself or we may be forced to shoot."

Confronted with that choice, the Doctor reluctantly complied. "I'm the Doctor; just the Doctor. It's the only name I've ever really gone by." He wasn't about to place himself in an unnecessarily grave situation, especially after regenerating so recently. "Now, where exactly am I?"

The officer merely looked puzzled at him. "You mean you don't have a clue? Okay, let's break this down slowly for you… you're in the Chief Executive Panel's orbital facility above New Caldari Prime."

"New Caldari Prime? Chief Executive Panel? Just where is all that?! I was supposed to be in the Milky Way galaxy a few minutes ago…" The Doctor now looked even more confused than before.

"What's the Milky Way?" the officer asked the Doctor. "I don't know what that place is, but you're nowhere near there right now." He motioned for all of his men to lower their weapons and stand at-ease.

"Son, you're in an extended galactic cluster… called EVE."


End file.
